Pet Sematary Remake Secures Starry Eyes Filmmakers

The team of Kolsch and Widmyer are taking on the iconic horror franchise

It’s nothing new for projects of Stephen King’s to make their way onto the big screen – especially in 2017. But with the recent blockbuster success of It, Hollywood likely has an increased interest in the King brand. So, like what was done with It, Paramount Pictures is trying to do the same with Pet Sematary.

Based upon the 1983 King novel of the same title, the Pet Sematary film released in 1989 and evolved into a bit of a cult phenomenon. Critically though, it only holds a 47% on Rotten Tomatoes. So a remake could certainly be deemed justified.

Deadline is reporting that said remake has secured its two project runners. The duo of Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kolsch will be taking the reins and directing the film. The filmmaking combo previously wrote and directed the 2014 horror flick Starry Eyes. Reviews of that movie were pretty positive as it currently rests at 75% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Jeff Buhler is attached to write the script for the Pet Sematary remake. Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian, Steven Schneider and Alexandra Loewy are on board as producers for the project.

The film follows Louis and Rachel Creed as they move their family into a new home. Nearby is the titular Pet Sematary. The family’s cat is killed after being hit by a car, and upon being buried in the cemetery, the cat is reanimated.

Upon realizing the unique characteristics of the Pet Sematary, the plot of the movie eventually leads towards humans being buried there. From there, things don’t go quite according to plan. Which spells nothing but bad news, of course, for the nearby Creed family.

Paramount Pictures hasn’t announced a release window of yet for the new Pet Sematary. With Kolsch and Widmyer just officially signing on, it’s likely the project will only gain momentum from here.